Drake's two goals lead Blues past Kings

Dallas Drake scored twice and All-Star Bill Guerin also tallied
as the Blues continued their recent success away from home with
a 3-1 triumph over the struggling Los Angeles Kings.

With the win, the Blues improved to 6-1-3 in their last 10 road
games. St. Louis also raised its record to 11-2-4 in its last
17 overall and is 11-4-4 under former Los Angeles coach Andy
Murray, who replaced the fired Mike Kitchen on December 11.

"We're getting great goaltending. That's always the key to
playing well on the road," Murray said. "It was gratifying to
come back (to Los Angeles) and see a lot of old friends. But it
was different to come back and turn left instead of right going
to the locker room."

"Even guys like me need a confidence boost from time to time,"
Blues veteran Doug Weight said. "Andy puts it to us in the
locker room in front of the younger guys, so we really have to
step up. A lot of our recent success is the confidence the team
has when we step on the ice, and that has a lot to do with the
coach and his staff."

Entering with just three goals in 26 games this season, Drake
opened the scoring with 7:44 left in the first period. The
37-year-old completed his first multi-goal performance of the
campaign just over 2 1/2 minutes later, giving him four tallies
in his last five contests.

It was the eighth two-goal game of Drake's career and first
since December 2, 2003 - also against Los Angeles.

After the Kings halved the deficit early in the second, Guerin
restored the Blues' two-goal bulge with 10 1/2 minutes remaining
in the session with his team-leading 19th of the season.

"We've had great play from a lot of guys," Guerin said of St.
Louis' play of late. "As veterans, we try to keep it loose to
the point where we have to get focused to prepare for games. We
know what's on the line here. Everybody on the team has picked
up his game here the last month and a half."

Jay McClement and rookie David Backes each had two assists and
Manny Legace made 34 saves for St. Louis, which was outshot
(35-28) for the fifth straight game.

"They take a lot of shots, but our defense was great at clearing
the slot so I could see most of them, especially on the penalty
kill," Legace said.

Tough guy Raitis Ivanans tallied for the Kings, who have lost
six in a row.

"I thought we played great," Los Angeles coach Marc Crawford
said. "Our guys played with lots of spirit and spunk. Tonight,
we were much more deserving of a better result, but we just
have to stick with it."

"We've found ways to lose games and not win them," Kings center
Michael Cammalleri said. "There are probably a lot of different
reasons why that happened. We have to work on good habits, but
to be honest, I think we did that and still didn't win the
game. We just have to trust that it will turn around."

Drake gave the Blues a 1-0 lead when McClement's weak backhander
from the slot deflected off the captain's skate and past
goaltender Barry Brust. Just 2:32 later, Backes unleashed a
shot from the left faceoff circle that caromed off Drake's skate
in front for a two-goal cushion.

Ivanans halved the deficit at 3:04 of the second, tipping in a
pass from Brian Willsie while on the doorstep for his first goal
in 33 games.

"There was nothing I could do," Legace said. "Ivanans slashed
through the slot and beat me."

However, St. Louis answered at 9:30 as Martin Rucinsky's pass
from behind the net deflected off the stick of Los Angeles
captain Mattias Norstrom to Guerin, who beat netminder Yutaka
Fukufuji from the slot for a 3-1 advantage.